elp 9examples en

The European Language Portfolio in use: nine examples

Edited by David Little

Language Policy Division Strasbourg Council of Europe

The European Language Portfolio in use: nine examples

Edited by David Little

Contents

IntroductionDavid Little 1

The ELP pilot project in the Czech RepublicSylva Nováková and Jana Davidová 2

The Finnish ELP pilot project for upper secondary schoolsTeijo Päkkilä 7

The “Portfolio attidude”: using the ELP in a Frenchtechnical secondary schoolThérèse L’Hotellier and Elizabeth Troisgros 13

Using the ELP to plan and evaluate language learning:an example from a French secondary schoolDéborah Mullois 19

The ELP pilot project in GreeceEvagelia Kaga-Giovoussoglou 27

Using the ELP in a boys’ secondary school in IrelandEilis O’Toole 35

Using the ELP with adult refugees learning the languageof the host communityBarbara Lazenby Simpson 41

The Russian ELP pilot projectN. Koriakovtseva and T. Yudina 50

Experimental phase (1999–2000) of use of the ELPin SwitzerlandHans Ulrich Bosshard 58

Introduction

David Little

The concept of the European Language Port-folio is at once simple and comprehensive:• a language passport that summarizes the

owner’s linguistic and cultural identity;• a language biography in which the owner

captures his or her experience of learningand using second/foreign languages andencountering other cultures;

• a dossier that contains evidence of the own-er’s language and intercultural proficiency.

This combination of simplicity and compre-hensiveness no doubt helps to explain the en-thusiasm with which the ELP is being takenup in increasing numbers of Council of Eu-rope member states, especially under the im-petus of the European Year of Languages(2001). At the same time, even in countrieswhere it has been extensively piloted, there arestill many language educators for whom theELP remains an abstract concept. This collec-tion of brief reports, with illustrations drawnfrom the ELPs of actual learners, is designedto make the abstract more concrete.

The nine reports, which come from sevenCouncil of Europe member states, were re-ceived in response to a general call sent by e-mail towards the end of 2001 to all coordinatorsof ELP pilot projects and all participants in thefirst pan-European ELP seminar, held inCoimbra in June 2001. The reports fall into twocategories. On the one hand we have those thatdescribe and illustrate pilot projects – from theCzech Republic, Finland, Greece, Ireland(Barbara Lazenby Simpson), Russia and Swit-zerland; on the other, we have reports fromindividual teachers on how they use the ELPin their classrooms – from France (ThérèseL’Hotellier and Elizabeth Troisgros, DéborahMullois) and Ireland (Eilis O’Toole). The re-ports illustrate some of the diversity of ELPdesign and implementation. At the same time,they all show learners engaged with their ownlearning through self-assessment and the other

reflective activities that underpin effective ELPuse. They show, in other words, that in verydifferent educational contexts, the ELP cansupport the development of learner autonomy.

Only two of the reports mention the ELP’sreporting function. Teijo Päkkilä describes howat the end of the three-year pilot project in Fin-land school-leavers turned their “process”ELPs into “product” ELPs that they could useto display their proficiency in second and for-eign languages; and Barbara Lazenby Simpsonnotes that the Standard Adult Passport is amost effective reporting tool for adult migrantswho are seeking employment in the host com-munity. For the rest, the focus is entirely onthe ELP’s pedagogical function, especially itscapacity to help learners to engage with theirown learning. But this is surely as it shouldbe; for the ELP can plausibly claim a valid re-porting function only when it has establisheditself as the preferred tool for promoting re-flective language learning in mainstream edu-cation. What is more, it is likely to be widelyused as a tool for promoting the lifelong de-velopment of plurilingualism and recordinglanguage and intercultural competence gainedoutside formal education only when it has es-tablished itself as the preferred means of re-porting language and intercultural compe-tence gained within formal education. Clearly,we are a long way from achieving these ambi-tious goals, but the first steps illustrated inthese pages are heartening in their confidence.

These nine reports will be of interest tothose already working with the ELP becausethey confirm a high level of unity in diversityas regards implementation and learner re-sponse. They will also be of interest to thosewho want to know more about the ELP, espe-cially about how its pedagogical function canbe realized in classrooms. I very much hopethat readers will find the same encouragementin the reports as their editor.

1

The ELP pilot project in the Czech Republic

Sylva Nováková and Jana Davidová

IntroductionThe ELP was introduced in Czech schools by53 teachers. During the experimental phasefrom April 1999 to June 2000 it was used by902 pupils, aged between 8 and 15. All par-ticipation in the project was on a voluntarybasis.

We took part in the seminars and work-shops on ELP-related issues held at the Min-istry of Education, Youth and Sport andchaired by Radka Perclová, the national projectcoordinator. She succeeded in establishing anatmosphere conducive to much fruitful, for-mal and informal discussion. The majority ofparticipants were clearly enthusiastic not onlyabout having access to an effective teachingtool which could answer modern needs, butalso about making an effort to understand theentire ELP “philosophy” and finding meansof introducing it and actually using it in a class-room context. At the same time, it could alsobe seen that some of our fellow teachers lackedempathy for the concept, perhaps because theywere too attached to stereotypical educationalpractices, the basic principles of which areunfortunately often in direct contrast withthose underlying the ELP. A large part of thislack of understanding could be attributed tothe fact that some colleagues regarded the ELPas an extra workload additional to their teach-ing duties. We believe that these two attitudesgive a good indication of how teachers willperceive the ELP in future.

The ELP model used in the CzechRepublicThe developer opted for a hard-backed ring-binder of the standard format used in schools,into which pages can be inserted. The graphicdesign and style of drafting are interesting andclear. The dossier part is practical: it is easy tohandle for learners and enables them to keepall their papers in good condition. The versionoriginally developed was modified (as regardscertain details) in the light of experienceamassed during the pilot project phase and ofrecommendations made by the Council ofEurope’s ELP Validation Committee.

It is clear that the developer principally hadthe ELP’s pedagogic function in mind. Adap-tation of the initial model therefore proved

necessary to make it accessible for children upto the age of 11. The wording and graphicswere simplified so as to suit children in thisage group. The pilot project ELP – or ratherthe third version developed, which has beenvalidated by the Council of Europe – is nowtargeted at learners in the 11 to 15 age-bracket.Its specific design features are as follows:

1. The ELP is closely linked to the school cur-riculum while allowing for children’s ex-tra-curricular activities. Learners are en-couraged to seek opportunities to use lan-guages, and respect for different culturesis inculcated.

2. All the comments and instructions in theELP have been translated into English,French and German, with the aim of pro-moting foreign-language learning in ourcountry.

3. The objectives set in the official Council ofEurope documents are followed. The ELPis also regarded as an excellent means oflearning to learn.

4. The ELP booklet includes a number ofblank pages, which the learner can use tonote what else he or she can do, accordingto his or her needs.

5. The “My notes” section should ensure thatlearners have enough room for their ownthoughts about their progress in acquiringlanguage skills.

6. Page 7 asks the question “How do I assessmy language proficiency?” The learnercompletes a table, entering the date onwhich he/she succeeded in doing the lan-guage biography tasks in the column cor-responding to the level attained. The fol-lowing page contains an identical table,which the teacher completes in the sameway but from his/her standpoint. Thesetwo pages constitute a form of mutual feed-back between the learner and the teacher.

The ELP in a school contextAt the 21. ZŠ Slovanská alej school four teach-ers of English, German and French partici-pated in the pilot project. One has since left tojoin the Faculty of Education in Plzen but has

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The ELP pilot project in the Czech Republic 3

monitored the entire project and continues towork with the school on teacher training as-pects of the ELP. Our present contribution willfocus on use of the ELP by a primary-schoolclass learning English.

The children have been using the ELP foralmost three years now. In general, it can beseen that they are well familiar with the port-folio and regard it as an integral part of theirlanguage learning inside and outside school,doubtless because their teacher had accus-tomed them to self-assessment before the ELPwas introduced. The proof of this lies in theease with which they use the portfolio andtheir understanding of how the three parts areinterlinked. The pupils bring their ELPs toschool roughly once a month, but the princi-ples are applied constantly during Englishclasses. Given the children’s age (11) and thefact that virtually no other teachers haveadopted this approach, they need assistancein clarifying their ideas and expressing (or re-wording) their conclusions concerning theirautonomous learning process.

Some learners use the ELP intensively,while others make moderate use of it. Someconcern themselves with it only when theyhave to bring it into school. One pupil initiallyrejected the ELP, but after some months fol-lowed his classmates’ example. Otherwise, thematerials have been well accepted by bothpupils and parents. We also noted an interestin the ELP among some of our fellow teach-ers, who introduced other groups to the prin-ciples.

We recently asked a group of learners threequestions. These questions and the learners’replies are set out below.

1. Do you find that the ELP helps you to learnforeign languages and how?

“Yes, I can assess what I know how to do.”

“Yes, when I write down everything I can do.”

“Yes, it helps – I can assess myself.”

“Yes, it helps me to talk about myself.”

“Yes, I know where I stand.”

“No.”

“I don’t think it helps very much.”

2. Is everything in the ELP clear or do youneed your teacher’s help? If you do, whatwith?

“Never.”

“I only need the teacher’s help from time totime.”

“Everything in the ELP is clear for me.”

“No.”

“The ELP is perfect.”

“I understand everything.” [two learners]

3. What is missing from the ELP? What wouldyou like to improve?

“I would like more tasks and pictures. Therecould be less self-assessment.”

“Work with it more.”

“I find nothing is missing.”

“More entertaining things.”

“Nothing.”

“I like it as it is.”

“I would include a song.”

These replies mostly confirm what has beensaid above and show an additional advantageof the ELP: young children find it entertain-ing, which is highly motivating for them. Thismeans that the idea of focusing on the learnerhas had a favourable impact on the learningprocess.

Sample ELP pagesExample 1 shows a learner’s checklist of learn-ing goals: I want to learn to read simple phrasesin English; talk about myself; make a crossword;understand a foreigner speaking English; make alarge crossword. Example 2 shows a page ofdescriptors (level A1) and the dates when thelearner judged that they had been achieved.Example 3 shows one of the dossier pageswhere learners can record things they can doin their target language(s). Example 4 is alearner’s self-description, included in the dos-sier. Examples 5 and 6 show two dossier pagescreated on the basis of a meeting with a nativespeaker.

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The Finnish ELP pilot project for upper secondary schools

Teijo Päkkilä

The Finnish pilot project lasted three years,from 1998 to 2001, which allowed us to explorethe pedagogic and reporting functions of theELP through the whole upper secondaryschool cycle. We wanted to focus particularlyon the role of the dossier and ways of linkingit with the language biography and languagepassport through self-assessment and reflec-tion on language and learning experience. Wewere also concerned to use the pedagogic func-tion to integrate the ELP with regular, every-day classroom work. To emphasize this aspect,we began to use the notion of “portfolio-ori-ented language learning” with the students,to replace our previous (narrower) concept of“portfolio assessment”.

Pedagogic function – reflective learning inthe classroomLearning to reflect on one’s own learning playsan essential role in promoting lifelong learn-ing as it provides the necessary tools for moni-toring progress, discovering suitable learningtechniques, and developing self-awarenessand meaningful self-assessment. For these rea-sons we wanted to teach reflection skills in ourpilot project. To begin with, students found itdifficult to understand the significance of re-flection for their language learning. However,once they became more aware of their lan-guage learning processes they realized theimportance of being able to make importantdecisions about their learning.

One of the basic tools for teaching reflec-tion was a simple notebook which the studentsused for reflecting on questions raised by theirteachers. We attempted to design the questionsso as to provoke the students to reflect on dif-ferent aspects of their learning, occasionallyeven approaching familiar things from newperspectives. At the end of the first pilot yearthe students (and teachers) were somewhatfrustrated with reflection as we had practisedit. The main reason seemed to be that teacherswere not able to direct their students’ atten-tion systematically to relevant aspects of thework. Another (though less important) reasonwas lack of coordination: students were giventhe same questions by different teachers.

As a result of joint planning we came upwith a procedure that supported the students’

growth as language learners and attempted torecognize their past experiences and futureplans. We designed a number of questions thatfocussed on consecutive themes during thesuccessive six-week periods of study in theFinnish upper secondary school, aiming at ameaningful progression of the themes:

• Course 1 (1st year): the student’s role andresponsibility as a language learner

• Course 2 (1st year): social responsibility asa group member

• Course 3 (1st and 2nd year): different per-sonal working techniques for the studentas a learner

• Courses 4–5 (2nd year): learning peer- andself-assessment

• Courses 6–7 (final, 3rd year): being goal-oriented in one’s learning and life

The following quotations illustrate the de-velopment of students’ reflective skills:

• What kind of language learner are you?(after Course 1)

“Well, a language learner…during the lessonsI don’t usually get new things right away, butit’ll come to me gradually and when I get it. Ilike doing some exercises. The texts are easy ifthey are understandable and interesting.”

• Reflect on your strengths as a languagelearner (after Course 3):

“My oral skills are improving all the time butthere is still a lot to practise. Writing goes fineas well because we’ve practised it well at school.My listening comprehension hasn’t worked outso well, so I’ll need more rehearsing. I’vestudied grammar better than ever, so I hopeit’ll contribute to my grammar exam mark. Itshould go better than the previous one. I’venothing to comment on my oral productionsince I tend to be rather shy during lessons.One’s vocabulary is never perfect but it hasbecome a bit more extensive once again. I’vetried to be more active during the lessons,nobody knows how much it has benefited me.”

Reflection was regularly combined withpeer- and self-assessment. We discovered, in

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8 Teijo Päkkilä

fact, that it was difficult to distinguish clearlybetween assessment and reflection as they sup-ported each another. Learning to be more re-flective in general contributed to the students’abilities to assess their language skills, to setgoals for their learning and to gain a deeperunderstanding of the CEF. Becoming moreaware of one’s skills, strengths and weak-nesses obviously helped to clarify the goals oflearning.

The ELP as part of regular classroompracticeThe ELP was always integrated with the dailywork of our language classrooms. Accordingto our approach, the dossier had a central rolein the process. We also made regular use ofthe self-assessment grid and the CEF to setfurther aims for learning. The students madeindividual action plans on the basis of theirself-assessments and reflections carried out atthe end of each course. Some of the actionplans were quite modest at first, dependingon the students’ ability to reflect on their learn-ing. The students worked on their assignmentsand got individual guidance from the teach-ers. Teachers also provided regular writtenfeedback in their comments on the students’progress and gave specific advice about howthey might proceed. At the end of each six-week period, the students reflected on theircourse work by presenting their assignmentsand working processes either in small groupsor to the whole class. The explicit tutoringclearly enhanced the development of students’reflective learning skills over the years.

The reporting function of the dossier waspractised systematically. At the end of eachcourse the students chose the assignments theywanted to leave in their dossier to be evalu-ated. They first presented their dossiers orallyin their peer groups, justifying their choices.After that they exchanged dossiers with theirneighbours and assessed each other. The as-sessment process was facilitated by theteacher, who gave instructions about what fea-tures to evaluate each time. Peer assessmentproved to be very significant and meaningfulfor motivating reflective learning. Finally, hav-ing received their own dossiers back, the stu-dents reflected on their work and assessed iton their own. The dossier also included self-assessment carried out with the help of the self-assessment grid and the check-lists. It was onlyafter this peer and self-assessment process thatthe teachers gave their feedback in the dossi-ers and guided the students’ action plans fur-

ther, thus facilitating their learning processesand supporting their autonomy.

The final reporting of the ELPs at the endof the schoolBefore leaving school the students came to-gether for a day to summarize their ELPs overthe three years of upper secondary school. Thepurpose of the day was to explore the poten-tial of the ELP as a school-leaving reportingtool and to give the students an experience ofhow they might update their ELPs in the fu-ture on their own. They were asked to bringall the material related to their ELP work, in-cluding the relevant assignments, reflectionnotebooks and any other evidence of their for-eign language skills.

We guided them to start the work with theirlanguage biography. They reported their bi-ographies including the relevant socio-culturalexperiences in each foreign language theyknew. Then they assessed their skills in eachlanguage using the self-assessment grid andthe checklists, if needed, and filled in the writ-ten self-assessment part concerning the role ofthe foreign language in their lives. The stu-dents found that their previous experience ofregular reflection was very helpful for theirwork with their language biographies.

The students converted their working dos-siers into reporting ones by selecting, accord-ing to the instructions given, one or two as-signments in each foreign language. The taskof selecting the most informative and impor-tant pieces again demanded reflective skills.We emphasized to the students that they couldstill change the contents of their dossiers ac-cording to the purpose for which they wishedto use their ELPs. We further guided them toreflect on each assignment submitted by us-ing the open-ended reflection form in the Finn-ish dossier, asking them also to outline theirfollow-up aims concerning the language inquestion.

The final document to be filled in was thelanguage passport, which gave a summary ofthe information put together during the day,including the various self-assessments of lan-guage skills.

Summarizing the whole three-year periodof developing and reporting on language skillsin one day was an exhausting task for boththe students and their teachers. However, suchan intensive day gave the students a compre-hensive overview of how to work with theirELP in the future and crystallized the conceptof the ELP as it had been dealt with as a whole.

The Finnish ELP pilot project for upper secondary schools 9

Oddly enough, the students didn’t find the daydemotivating, but they did point out that thequality of their work suffered because they hadtoo many tasks to do. The teachers had simi-lar thoughts about too much work but werealso satisfied with how concrete the ELP be-came that day.

Sample ELP pagesExample 1 reproduces a learner’s reflection atthe end of a six-week period of learning. Itshows how reflection acts as a tool to supportlearning, monitor progress, set follow-up aims,and develop self-awareness and meaningfulself-assessment. Example 2 reproduces theteacher’s feedback on the learner’s reflection.

Example 3 shows peer assessment, againcarried out at the end of a six-week period oflearning. The English translation of the com-ments is as follows:• Your pieces of work show that you’ve managed

to get on paper all that you wanted.

• You have a good command of writing long sen-tences. You can use very difficult words welland you complete and clarify your text withappropriate adjectives. You are good at writ-ing factual texts.

• I consider the work entitled “A short look atthe teenage music in the 50s, 60s and 70s” thebest.

• Why is it the best? In fact, I didn’t read theothers, but this by itself was very versatile andgave me a lot of further information. Your piecesof work tell about your commitment and thepictures illustrate well the idea in the text. Verywell done!When the students converted their work-

ing dossiers into reporting dossiers, they wereallowed to retain one or two assignments ineach foreign language for their final school-leaving dossiers (Example 4). An open-endedreflection form was filled in for each piece ofwork chosen (Example 5).

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Example 4 Example 5

The “Portfolio attitude”: using the ELP in a French technicalsecondary school

Thérèse L’Hotellier and Elizabeth Troisgros

To begin, it’s important to say that from theword go, we have been convinced that some-thing must “turn up”, that a new approach isnecessary to language teaching and learning.We teach English in a technical secondaryschool, and many of our students encounterdifficulties in general subjects, particularly inlanguages. The reason for this is very simple.They don’t like learning English, Spanish orGerman. As time passes they have become lessand less motivated and more and more pas-sive. They just wait for the teacher to put on amore or less exciting show. They are specta-tors not participants, and if they fail they tendto blame the teacher. We are all familiar withthat excuse, yet we can’t seriously believe thatteachers are all bad at their job, that our textbooks are no good, or even that students areworse than they used to be. We have noticedthat when they are given what they considerto be an interesting topic to study, they arequite capable of providing the expected an-swers.

So, are motivation and interest the key tosuccess? In part, no doubt, but many studentsstill consider that it is up to the teacher to findsomething interesting for them to do, and com-ing up with subjects likely to captivate teen-agers can be a real headache. Motivation hasto run much deeper. Learning can’t only besitting quietly and ingesting what the teachersets before us. Learning requires an effort fromthe learner and also the possibility for the stu-dents to make choices and decisions abouttheir learning so that they can find a real in-terest in what they are doing and become ac-tively engaged in the learning process. In thisideal situation the teacher becomes a guidewho accompanies and assesses learning activi-ties with the students. But how does one reachthis degree of student involvement and au-tonomy?

When we first received the European Lan-guage Portfolio at our school, we were all quiteenthusiastic as we considered it a ready-madetool for self-assessment, which is surely oneof the first steps towards learner autonomy.We duly handed it out to our classes, pre-sented them with a few examples of how tofill it in, and then waited for the miracle to takeplace. After the first month, when we tried to

check the results with our “seconds” duringmodule sessions, we realized that nothing hadchanged. The students had seemed quite in-terested in the idea, but it was clear that with-out further involvement on our part the ELPwas just going to be one more copybook whichno student would open by himself.

Fortunately, at this point we were able toattend a three-day seminar with David Littleon “Learner autonomy and the European Lan-guage Portfolio”. Thanks to this we realizedthat the ELP can only come into its own whencombined with a communicative approach tolanguage teaching based on learner choice,learner responsibility for learning, and learnerself-assessment. But self-assessment can onlybe carried out effectively once learners havebecome really involved in the learning proc-ess and once they have worked out for them-selves what they want to achieve in their lan-guage learning. We had been putting the cartbefore the horse.1 It seems to us that the ELPcannot easily be combined with classicalteacher-centred methods. Autonomy really isthe key word, but it has to be put into context.Learning has to become part of what the stu-dents really are.

We came back from the seminar full of en-thusiasm, but the problem was how to putthese new ideas into practice in the middle ofa school year and within the confines of a rela-tively rigid system, with a text book and a setcurriculum. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Wedecided to try first with our “seconds” in mod-ules, as it is more practical to cope with smallergroups. We also thought it would be more sen-sible to start with these first years in order toget them used to the method from their arrivalat the lycée.

We have to admit that it hasn’t been easy.This approach requires us to speak the target

1 It seems important to point out here that wefound the guide to using the ELP written byDavid Little and Radka Perclová an invaluablesource of information. To our knowledge, itwas not distributed systematically in theschools in our area which received the ELP.We feel that it should have been, as it wouldhave enabled many colleagues to understandthe philosophy behind the ELP, rather thanrejecting it.

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14 Thérèse L’Hotellier and Elizabeth Troisgros

language all the time. The received wisdomin language teaching in France at the momentis that the teacher should speak the target lan-guage as much as possible, but any tricky bitslike grammar should be explained in the stu-dents’ own language. How were we to getround things like this?

It seemed vital to try and explain to ourstudents what we were intending to do.Thérèse L’Hotellier bravely took the bull bythe horns and in English worked with her stu-dents to reflect on what effective learningmeant to them and on the advantages of onlyspeaking English. She explained to her stu-dents in English what she expected from themand why she wanted them to take more re-sponsibility for their learning. She noticed thatwhile she was speaking all the students weremaking a real effort to understand, and sheemphasized that this was the only way toprogress. She concluded by asking all her stu-dents to write down on a piece of paper whatthey thought about this and was pleased tosee that there were no negative answers. Theconsensus was that it was difficult but worthtrying.

The next step was to get students to reflecton their attitude towards learning. ThérèseL’Hotellier picked out a few striking sentencesshe had noted down during the seminar. Shethen asked her students to get into groups ofthree, the only condition being that the groupshad to be mixed. Each group had to choose aleader who would be responsible for allottinga different task to each group member. Thiswas seen as a first step towards responsibilityand autonomy. Each group was given a sen-tence which they were then asked to explainand comment on in English. They worked toproduce posters summarizing their ideas.They were allowed to consult dictionaries orask the teacher for help, but the ideas had tobe their own. The teacher underlined any mis-takes but it was the students’ task to correctthem. The results were rather good. The stu-dents treated the activity as a game at first butrespected the contract to speak in English. Eachgroup had to report on its conclusions to theothers, which produced quite a debate. Theresulting posters were then stuck up on theclassroom walls. Each group leader also typedup a copy of the group’s ideas to be includedin the ELP (see examples on pp.15–17).

In another session, Thérèse L’Hotellierasked her students to define what they enjoyedand what they didn’t enjoy in language learn-ing and to make a list of possible activities

based on the activities they thought theywould enjoy doing. She advised them to con-sult the ELP to get ideas about tasks whichwould incorporate the four skills. The activi-ties suggested included: write a play, a poem,a story and perform it; invent a game basedon the TV show The Weakest Link; write lettersto pen-friends; chat on the web; listen to songsand find the words; watch films in English;read books; organize debates. Interestingly,this provoked a great deal of comment fromother students using the same classroom. Thenext step will be to let students choose an ac-tivity and then link it to the ELP.

Elizabeth Troisgros took a slightly differ-ent approach. She had been working on agrammar point, the difference between thepast simple and the present perfect. It wasgetting to the point where classically theteacher summarizes what has been coveredand writes it on the board for all the studentsto copy. Instead of doing this ElizabethTroisgros asked the students to work in groupsand produce their own grammar lesson on aposter, using their understanding of what wehad done together and their text books as anextra resource. The only guideline was thatthey were doing this “lesson” for all the otherstudents in the class, so it had to be as clearand complete as possible. Every single groupproduced a poster which was more or lesscomplete according to the students’ level; butwhat was remarkable was that most of themcontained correct information. In the next ses-sion they had to exchange posters so that othergroups could correct them if necessary. In themeantime some groups had even gone awayand typed their posters onto A4 paper, whichthey asked their teacher to copy and distrib-ute to every member of the class. After timefor correction, they copied their group’s “les-son” and put it into their ELP dossier as anexample of their first autonomous production.The activity was used as a springboard to talkabout the autonomous approach, with mostof the students agreeing that they had felt veryinvolved in this activity and hadn’t felt as ifthey were “studying grammar”.

The feedback from these activities was verypositive and seemed to foster a good groupspirit, but how could we go further? We de-cided that the first step should be to create adifferent and more flexible linguistic environ-ment. Our timetables were organized so thatwe were both teaching our two “second”classes in modules at the same time. We ob-tained the use of a very large classroom di-

The “Portfolio” attitude: using the ELP in a French technical secondary school 15

the only way to progress is to get into thelanguage

It's more pleasant to use the English language, when use like the activities andwhen we choose it. In the future, you will like the language and the activitiesbecause you will use English more often and it will give you more proficiency,you will have pleasure when speaking.

Consequence:

You will be able to speak easier with English pen friends or with any people indifférent counties when you go on holiday.

-You choose the activity -You like doing it and you speak English -You makeprogress -It gives you more proficiency

You can do anythingduring the English Class...

do don't

- do your homework during your - dont speak French duringfree-time the English Class

- listen to English music and study it - don't sleep in class- do funny and interesting activities - dont be absent-minded

during the lesson .

A MIXED GROUP IS THE MEANS GETTING THESTUDENTS HELP EACH OTHER:

• This idea is very good because it's an other solution toprogress.

• It's a good idea because the best students can help thestudents in difficulty.

• The good students can progress because they speakEnglish all the time to explain to the pupils who are indifficulty.

• Everybody has different ideas so we get morearguments.

• The good students can help the pupils in difficultybecause they can find interestinq subjects.


ITS ONLY BY SPEAKING ENGLISH THAT YOU CAN PROGRESS

- I think it's a good idea, but it's important to, keep a written track too.

- In my opinion, speaking English will help me to memorize the vocabulary.

- To my mind, it's the only way to learn and to speak better.

- It seems to me it's a good idea to-work in autonomy.

- As for me, it's the only way to find more ideas.

- From my point of view, it's a very good idea but it's very difficult for me,but it's worth trying.

A MIXED GROUP IS THE MEANS GETTING THESTUDENTS HELP EACH OTHER:

• This idea is very good because it's an other solution toprogress.

• It's a good idea because the best students can help thestudents in difficulty.

• The good students can progress because they speakEnglish all the time to explain to the pupils who are indifficulty.

• Everybody has different ideas so we get morearguments.

• The good students can help the pupils in difficultybecause they can find interestinq subjects.

The “Portfolio” attitude: using the ELP in a French technical secondary school 17


vided by a partition so that we could create alarge space to work with two groups at thesame time. After raiding the school cellars wefound a number of cupboards and storagecases which we filled with a large selection ofdifferent activities concerning written compre-hension, oral comprehension, oral expressionand written expression, all based aroundgrammar points and functions and notions onour programme. A certain number of theseactivities were suggested by the students asbeing things they enjoyed doing; for example,games or a comprehension exercise based onlistening to a song. We also provided materialof varying difficulty so that students couldwork at their own level. We persuaded theheadmaster to have the room redecorated, butwe allowed the students to bring in any post-ers or maps or documents to stick on the walls.We are lucky as we already have a languagelab and a computer room with 15 computerswith Internet access and the CD English courseTell me more, all in close proximity to our bigteaching room. However, our major invest-ment has been time rather than money.

So how does our system function in practi-cal terms? Within the constraints of our pro-gramme, it seems difficult for the moment tolet the students decide for themselves whichpoints of grammar or functions they want tostudy, but we leave them free to choose howthey will reach the objective which we havedefined together. Each student has an indi-vidual progression sheet on which he or shenotes the activities that have been chosen withthe date and individual assessment: “I can dothis correctly with a lot of help/some help/no help” – the aim being to transfer these as-sessments periodically to the ELP.

The problem we noticed at first was thatstudents automatically headed for written ex-ercises, so we agreed with them that each stu-dent will undertake to do at least one activityfrom each of the four skills, within a certainnumber of sessions. They also all tend to wantto use the computers or the language lab, sowe have to keep a check on this. One teacherstays in the big classroom with a group whilethe other goes with students to the computerroom or the lab. It isn’t possible to have allthree rooms running at the same time.

It is too early to comment on the results weare obtaining, but we feel the initial work hasbeen worthwhile as our classes look forwardto these sessions and are very keen to speakEnglish with the American assistant. These aresmall signs and modest beginnings, but thestudents feel that we are taking their wishesand difficulties into consideration and theyenjoy interacting and correcting each other. Itis difficult because we have to really insist thatthe students speak English all the time, butafter only two weeks of this new way of work-ing we have noticed better comprehension anda more attentive attitude in class.

The classroom has become a new environ-ment where the students naturally switch overto English. It is a gradual process, but well onthe way to becoming an accepted fact amongthe students. They now speak in a more natu-ral way, as if they were conversing with anEnglish person rather than a teacher. We hopewe will be able to transform English learningfrom a chore into something they really wantto do, because they can see they are makingprogress and because they are capable of ana-lysing their own progress. For us this sums upthe “Portfolio attitude”.

Using the ELP to plan and evaluate language learning:an example from a French secondary school

Déborah Mullois

This article summarizes how the ELP was usedto plan and evaluate the writing of a detectivestory as a whole-class project. The studentsconcerned had been learning English for twoand a half years.

1. Half of the group played a game called “Itmight have been murder” (No.6-3 in Ac-tivity Box) with the assistant. It’s a game ofdeduction similar to Cluedo. The other halfof the class stayed with the teacher andtalked about a man arrested by the police(in TOP, Unit 4, p.33). After 25 minutes thegroups swapped. They were given a “de-scriptions quiz” for homework.

The ELP checklists were used for self-assessment: spoken interaction (A1-A2, §§2,3, 5) and listening (A1-A2, §§4, 5)

2. The pupils played bingo with part of thestory the teacher had cut out and lami-nated. The pictures and texts were extractsfrom the book Detectives from Scotland Yard(Longman Structural Readers, Stage One).For this game, one pupil reads a paragraphaloud to three others, who have to find thecorresponding picture on a grid of six.

ELP checklists were used for self-assessment:listening (A2-1, §§2, 5, 7, 8, 9 and A2-3, §3)

For homework pupils had to read thecomplete book and fill in a page ofquestions about it (Example 1)

ELP checklists were used for self-assessment:reading (A2-2 and A2-3, §1)

3. We discussed in English how the pupilsshould go about writing their story andthey made two posters summarizing thedifferent elements necessary to make agood detective story and the differentstages in the process (Example 2)

Nothing was found in the ELP checklists tosupport self-assessment

4. Each group of four pupils invented thecharacters of their story: a detective, a vic-tim, a witness, and two or three suspects(one guilty). They were asked to draw themand give a written description of each (Ex-ample 3).

ELP checklists were used for self-assessment:written production (A1)

Homework was to write a letter aboutthemselves to their English pen-friend (allpupils have one) (Example 4).

ELP checklists were used for self-assessment:written production (A2-3, §1,3)

5. The pupils constructed their plot and wereasked to present it in a grid (Example 5)

ELP checklists were used for self-assessment:written production (A1)

6. The pupils wrote a summary of their story.The teacher gave no instruction concern-ing the tense to be used. Some wrote veryshort sentences (Example 6), while otherswrote one long paragraph, either in thepresent tense (Example 7) or in the past(Example 8).

ELP checklists were used for self-assessment:written production (A1 and A2, §2 or A2-3,§§4, 5)

7. The summaries were read to the class. Thistook 50 minutes.

No self-assessment was made

8. The pupils’ next task was to compose thedialogues between the detective and thesuspects. Some were written in the presenttense (Example 9), some in the past (Exam-ple 10)

ELP checklists were used for self-assessment:written production (A1, §1 and A2, §1)

For homework pupils had to completeunfinished dialogues.

Further steps to be undertaken:

• Write the different chapters of the story

• Print it

• Record it

• Act it in a play

• Make up a test:1. Find the title2. Fill in the gaps3. Put things in the right order

19

20 Déborah Mullois

4. Describe characters5. Write the ending of a story

• Another test might be:1. Reading comprehension2. Right or wrong? Justify3. Put in the past tense4. Link pictures and sentences5. Give the answers to these questions

• Self-assessment:What have you learnt to understand, say, read,write?

• Read the more advanced Sherlock HolmesShort Stories (OUP) and do all the pre-read-ing activities and tests.

Example 1

Using the ELP to plan and evaluate language learning 21

Exa

mp

le 2

22 Déborah Mullois

Exa

mp

le 4

Exa

mp

le 3


Exa

mp

le 5

24 Déborah Mullois

Exa

mp

le 6

Exa

mp

le 7


Exa

mp

le 8

Exa

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le 9

26 Déborah Mullois

Example 10

The ELP pilot project in Greece

Evagelia Kaga-Giovoussoglou

Organisation of the pilot project• Educational sector: lower secondary school

(12–15 years) and upper secondary school(15–18 years)

• Number of learners: 500 up to September2002; 1,000 from November 2002

• Number of teachers: 5 up to September2002; 18 from November 2002

• Number of state schools involved: 15

Languages involved• French, English, German

Co-ordination• Evagelia Kaga-Giovoussoglou, Greek na-

tional co-ordinator for the ELP project,Adviser at the Pedagogic Institute, Athens

ELP model used during the pilot project• A 30-page file in A4 format comprising

three sections: the passport, the languagebiography and the dossier, in two lan-guages (Greek and French).

• The ELP is based on the Common Euro-pean Framework of Reference, levels A1,A2 and B1.

• The descriptors presenting linguistic tasksare adapted to the learners’ age and lan-guage proficiency (research was carried outin the field to adapt the descriptors to Greekeducational realities). There are three self-assessment checklists per descriptor.

The principal aims of the Greek model• Motivate learners with a view to diversi-

fied, life-long language-learning at all lev-els.

• Develop ability to live in a multilingual,multicultural Europe.

• Assess and enhance partial abilities, notrecognised by official diplomas (for in-stance intercultural skills)

General objectives• Foster mutual understanding and tolerance

between communities having different lan-guages and cultures (intercultural aware-ness)

• Promote autonomous language learning

• Make learners grasp foreign languages’usefulness

• Inculcate language and socio-culturalknowledge management skills

• Use foreign language knowledge to raiseawareness of the links between modernlanguages and/or vice-versa

• Help learners to distinguish different lan-guage levels

Specific objectives for learners• Encourage learners to develop the ability

to communicate in different languages atall social levels

• Develop learner strategies for good linguis-tic and socio-cultural knowledge manage-ment

• Help learners to perform self-assessmentsso as to determine their learning needs andpriorities

• Learning to plan their learning process andsetting personal progress objectives

• Adapting to reflective learning• Developing “learning to learn” skills

Specific objectives for teachers• Assessing implementation of defined ob-

jectives• Appraising their own teaching approach

through the self-assessment checklists com-pleted by learners

• Being able to introduce pedagogic innova-tions through negotiation with learners

• Monitoring development of learners’ lan-guage and thinking skills throughout theteaching process, including those acquiredin previous years

• Making it possible for teachers to focus onthe main points raised by learners with aview to organising their teaching

Brief comments on the chosen examples• Although the pilot phase is very short, the

overall results so far have been positive.• The teachers involved in the pilot project

acknowledge that the ELP helps them toplan their lessons, to present teaching/learning objectives in an accessible, moti-

27

28 Evagelia Kaga-Giovoussoglou

vating way and to manage their time. Theyregard the ELP as a tool which facilitatesinteraction between learners within agroup, the application of different teach-ing approaches and the introduction of self-assessment and instructive co-assessmentprocedures.

• Most learners state that the ELP encouragesthem to think about their own learningprocess and to develop strategies for ac-quiring communication skills. They thinkthat it helps them to identify their strengthsand weaknesses, to improve their perform-ance and rectify their errors. They can de-termine their learning needs and under-stand the hows and whys. Many learnersconsider that the ELP is an encouragementto learn several languages and to approachother cultures.

Learners’ comments on the ELP

“The portfolio helps me to become aware of myabilities and to improve where I need to. I likeit because it is a very useful tool for learningforeign languages.”

“The portfolio helps me to develop my abilitiesand to practise my knowledge of foreign lan-guages.”

“The portfolio helps me to improve my under-standing of written texts.”

“I like the portfolio because it helps me to reflecton my learning.”

“The most interesting thing for me is when Ifill the dossier.”

“The most boring thing is when I have to reflecton my objectives and fill out the self-assessmentlists.”

“For me the portfolio is an enjoyable game.”

The ELP pilot project in Greece 29

Using the ELP in a boys’ secondary school in Ireland

Eilis O’Toole

IntroductionThe Irish ELP for second-level learners of Irish,French, German, Spanish and Italian came outof a four-year project to introduce the princi-ples of learner autonomy to language class-rooms in Irish secondary schools. Among theaims of the project were to help learners toreflect on and talk about their language learn-ing experience and to explore ways of moti-vating them and getting them more involvedin their learning. The ELP is the practicalmeans by which I hope to continue this proc-ess of involving my learners in their own learn-ing. In applying ideas from the learner au-tonomy project I focus especially on the lan-guage biography and the dossier.

I am currently using the ELP with a classof 12/13-year-old boys in a religious all-boysschool outside Dublin. They are in their firstyear of learning French and will take the Jun-ior Certificate (state) examination in French in2004. The syllabus for this examination com-prises some eighteen themes, each requiring adifferent range of vocabulary. In order to helpmy learners to prepare adequately I have listedthese themes on a separate A4 card, which theykeep in their ELP immediately after the lan-guage passport. The card provides an over-view of the tasks that the learners must be ca-pable of performing by June 2004. Working asa group my learners use the card to choosethe theme of our next phase of learning. Theythen write this theme as “My next target” inthe language biography. We work through thetheme using various methods, tasks and ac-tivities. When it is completed each learner as-sesses his achievement in the language biog-raphy and records that achievement on thecard, drawing a happy, neutral or sad face asappropriate. Each learner may choose to pro-duce a final document for his dossier. Somedo this for every theme, task and activity; oth-ers are more selective. Each of my learners hasa different type of dossier, some fuller thanothers. The pride they take in their dossier isevident in the examples included here.

A brief commentary on the selectedexamplesThe examples are documents produced by twolearners while working on particular themes.

They are presented in the order of their pro-duction, so that it is possible to get some ideaof the learning progress made. Over the yearsit has been found that learners taking the Jun-ior Certificate exam in a foreign language findthe written sections most challenging. For thisreason I focus much of my work on writing,with the aim of giving my learners early con-fidence in the written word.

1. The first example is from Learner A. Wehad covered the family tree and he choseto represent his own family tree in a col-ourful document.

2. Learner A also produced the second exam-ple, which presents the days of the week,months and seasons. He was discoveringthe facilities available to him on the com-puter as well as filling his dossier with col-our. At this stage his dossier was beginningto look good and his motivation and inter-est were high.

3. Learner A also produced a design of hisown house – a complex document, whichobviously took some time to create.

4./5. Learner B produced examples 4 and 5.He too had learnt the days of the week andwas beginning to produce full sentences.He wrote a short book about his week andadded images. I include Lundi and Mardi.Learner B did not tell me in advance thathe was producing this booklet, but in pass-ing he asked me for simple translations intoFrench. The booklet arrived after a fewdays.

6./7. Examples 6 and 7 are from the first ofmany short written exercises that the learn-ers began working on after 10 weeks oflearning French: a collection of limericks.The aim of this written exercise was to fo-cus attention on the sounds of French. First,learners worked alone to produce rhym-ing clusters of Christian name, town andnoun. Then, when they each had severalclusters, we brainstormed as a class andproduced lists of rhyme words. The listswere endless and imaginative. I gave a for-mula for writing the limerick and allowedthe learners to create a rhyme of theirchoice. I introduced the idea of a competi-

35

36 Eilis O’Toole

tion and some learners produced up to fif-teen limericks in a few days.

8./9./10. At this stage the learners have beenlearning French for six months. They areconfident and enthusiastic. Introducingpeople is the first theme on the Junior Cer-tificate curriculum. The learners agreedthat this theme could often be returned toas they progressed towards the exam. Af-ter some negotiation they decided that adescription of the characters in a TV pro-gramme would be a good way of learninghow to introduce people. We settled on theSimpsons. The learners had already learntthe vocabulary for describing the charac-ters physically. We began with this. Eachlearner worked alone and wrote what hecould about each character. I answeredmany questions and handed out many dic-tionaries at this point. Each learner thencontributed to the class description, whichI wrote on the board and he copied downafter his own paragraph. Learners thenread out the finished text and produceddocuments for their dossiers. I include threeof these, Homer, Marge and Bart Simpson.

Comments from the learners themselvesI asked learners A and B to comment brieflyon how they like learning French in the waywe do, with the syllabus list, the language bi-ography and the dossier. Here are the mainpoints of their answers:

“It’s better than reading a book ’cause whenyou read a book the classroom becomes dull.And when you’re doing projects you find itbetter. You want to do things. You want to dothings on the computer. You want to have fun.You are unwittingly learning. You’re havinga good time when you’re learning other thanjust reading out of a book.”

“French is easier than any other subject. It’sfun. It’s a lot easier to learn French becauseyou get more fun when you’re involved.”

“Commenting on how you are doing is quitehard. You find that you repeat yourself. Andas time passes you know that you can’t writenothing.”

“I was just looking through my computer andI saw that there were great pictures that wouldgo well with a text. So we had just done thedays of the week and I thought a text about myweek with these great pictures would lookgood.”

“The limericks were fun. You could writeanything you wanted. You were given thedictionaries and you could write anything youwanted once it rhymed. You just gave usdictionaries and said ‘whatever you want todo, just do it’. It was great fun. We werelaughing our heads off.”

“Simpsons was a good idea. First of all becauseeveryone, almost everyone watches TheSimpsons. The writing was a little bit hard todo on your own. Again it was much better thanin the book. Everyone had to write about HomerSimpson. The whole class did it then on theboard and they were all experts. Everyone hadtheir own say. And eventually we came up withthis big long text.”

“I got this idea [Une semaine dans la vie de…] from Niall [learner B]. I felt the bit ofcompetition and thought that is a good idea.So I said, maybe if I did my own week. I useddictionaries – my sister has this big Frenchdictionary.”

ConclusionThe examples and the comments from the twolearners show how the use of the ELP can con-tribute positively to the language learningprocess. I added the syllabus list to the ELP,an addition that was necessary for my groupof learners. Each teacher will supplement theELP and vary its use according to the needs ofhis/her particular learners. As a planning andself-assessment tool it helps to make the learn-ing process more visible to the learners and assuch involves them more.

Using the ELP in a boys’ secondary school in Ireland 37

Example 1

38E

ilis O’T

oole

Example 2 Example 3

Using the ELP in a boys’ secondary school in Ireland 39

Exa

mpl

e 7

Exa

mpl

e 6

Exa

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e 5

Exa

mpl

e 4

40 Eilis O’Toole

Example 10

Example 9

Example 8

Using the ELP with adult refugees learning the language of the hostcommunity

Barbara Lazenby Simpson

IntroductionIntegrate Ireland Language and Training, acampus company of Trinity College Dublin,is funded by the Irish Department of Educa-tion and Science to provide English languagetraining for adult refugees admitted to Ireland.The three versions of the European LanguagePortfolio in use at Integrate Ireland were de-signed to meet the needs of three kinds oflearner. The Reception 1 ELP is for those whohave little or no knowledge of English and lit-tle cross-cultural awareness; the Reception 2ELP is for learners who may have spent sometime in Ireland prior to starting formal lan-guage learning and who have some functionalknowledge of English and some awareness ofcross-cultural difference; and the Pre-voca-tional ELP is for learners who are at the inter-face between language learning and voca-tional training (the content of their languagecourse is based entirely on job-seeking, furthertraining and the world of work).

The particular needs of migrant languagelearnersMediating the ELP – At Integrate Ireland it isnot unusual to find ten or more different mothertongues represented in a group of fifteen learn-ers. As a consequence, the target languagemust also be the language of instruction andthe ELP must be mediated entirely throughEnglish. This necessity had implications for thedesign of the ELPs. In particular they must becomprehensible without a lot of written or oralexplanation. Obviously learners, especiallythose at the lower levels of proficiency, do notunderstand immediately what they should dowith the different parts of their ELP or whythey should do it. For this reason we have de-veloped activities that engage learners inthinking about, discussing, and working on arange of different issues. These issues are rel-evant both to language learning and to the useof the target language in everyday life. Theresults of the activities are then mapped backto the relevant parts of the ELP. In this way,understanding about the purpose of the ELPgradually emerges until the learners can takecontrol of their ELP themselves.

ELP content – In terms of content our ELPsreflect the particular learning needs of refu-gees/migrants. At Reception 1 and 2 levels theprincipal focus is on the everyday languageneeds of individuals living as members of thetarget language community. Thus the ELPsfocus on the identification of where and howlearning may take place outside the classroom.Much of the language biography consists ofdescriptors that summarize what the learnersneed to be able to do in English, under a num-ber of headings such as “Dealing with offi-cials”, “Using the telephone”, and so on. Theseheadings correspond to the modules that con-stitute Integrate Ireland’s courses at differentlevels. In each case, the ELP has been designedto support, in a specific and transparent man-ner, both the content of the course and thestages of progression that a learner will gothrough as learning and awareness develop.

The reporting functionFor migrant learners the Standard Adult Pass-port offers a most effective reporting tool thatcan be used in support of applications for train-ing, further education or employment. But tobegin with, a process passport is used whichintroduces self-assessment and reflective ac-tivities. This helps to make learners aware ofthe often considerable experience they alreadyhave of second/foreign language learning anduse as well as cross-cultural differences. TheStandard Adult Passport is introduced as un-derstanding develops, and in particular to-wards the end of the course, by which timelearners can carry out self-assessment effec-tively and can see the real value of the docu-ment in the outside world.

The pedagogical functionThe language biography and the dossier arefundamental to the progress of learning andthe individual learner’s assumption of respon-sibility for the learning process. One of theprincipal objectives of language courses foradult migrants must always be the develop-ment of learner autonomy, which facilitatesfurther learning after the end of the course.The ELP supports learner self-management interms of reflection, goal setting, self-assess-

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42 Barbara Lazenby Simpson

ment and recording progress. These activitiesare clearly articulated in the form of “LearnerDiary” pages, goal-setting boxes, and self-as-sessment grids based on the course modulesmentioned above. They are illustrated in theexamples from learners’ ELPs.

While the language biography provides afocus for self-direction, the dossier is used togather examples of learners’ work as well asimportant ‘models’ of formal letters and thelearner’s curriculum vitae. The evidence ofachievement provided by these examples isused as a basis for decision making with re-gard to future language study.

The effectiveness of the ELPs used atIntegrate Ireland Language and TrainingVersions of the ELP have been in use with mi-grant learners taking Integrate Ireland’s Eng-lish language courses since 1999. The first stagefor all learners is to recognize that this is ahighly individual document, belongs solely tothe learner, will not be used for assessment,but will provide support for all learning ac-tivities as well as for negotiation with theteacher. As a result, even for learners at thelowest proficiency levels, there is pride inownership and a sense of control over whathappens in the classroom. For learners the ELPprovides a visible record of progress, achieve-ment, thoughts and aspirations; for learnersbut also teachers it helps to point the directionfor future learning and supplements the me-diation process.

Introduction to examples

Learner 1: HangHang is Vietnamese and has been learningEnglish for sixteen months. Her objective is totrain and work as a hairdresser. She is usingthe Pre-vocational ELP and is half way througha six-month course, at the end of which shewill enter vocational training. This exampleshows the result of reflection that Hang hascarried out in order to identify her most effec-tive learning activities.

Learner 2: MersijaMersija (from Bosnia) carries out an initial self-assessment of her English language skills us-ing the self-assessment grid of the CommonEuropean Framework. She needs to achieveB2 in all skills in order to enter a course intravel and tourism. Like Hang she is using thePre-vocational ELP.

The only foreign country, other than Ire-land, that Mersija has visited is Hungary. She

notes the different experiences she had in Ire-land and Hungary. She also records her knowl-edge of other languages.

Learner 3: ThienThien, from Vietnam, is also attending a Pre-vocational course. He intends to study com-puter applications. In common with many Vi-etnamese learners of English, Thien has prob-lems with his pronunciation and wishes toimprove his performance and confidence inspeaking on the telephone. This objective isreflected in two of the learning targets he for-mulates. His third target is to develop his for-mal writing skills so that he can write a letterof application without assistance.

Thien records his self-assessment ofprogress in “Career Planning” in the LanguageBiography. He enters the dates on which heachieves each of his targets. Achievement isrecorded at three levels: “with a lot of help”,“with a little help” or “with no help”. Thismakes it possible to record small degrees ofprogress.

Learner 4: OlegOleg is Russian and has demonstrated a very“grammatical” approach to language learning.He has a high level of metalinguistic aware-ness and frequently sets his learning targetsin terms of grammatical and lexical memori-zation. He is at Reception 2 level.

Oleg applies a similar approach to thelearning material that is filed in his dossier.The example reproduced here shows someexpressions that he has collected and kept inthe vocabulary section of his dossier for useon the telephone.

Learner 5: SolomonSolomon comes from Eritrea. His level is Re-ception 2 and his objective is to enter third-level education. His learning contract clearlyillustrates his aim of achieving a high level ofaccuracy in all aspects of the target language.

Solomon indicates that his preferredmethod of learning is by reading authenticmaterials in the target language. He can do thisboth inside and outside class. He evidentlyperceives the class as a means of addressingaccuracy and notes that his second most fa-voured method is “Learning in class gram-mar”. Solomon also reflects on his personalstrategies for approaching a written and oraltask, clearly articulating the stages he goesthrough in preparing and carrying out thetasks.

Solomon sets his personal learning targets

Using the ELP with adult refugees learning the language of the host community 43

on a monthly basis. He focuses on individualskills: the first month is devoted to oral flu-ency, the second to written accuracy, and thethird to aural comprehension. His approachto language learning is obviously systematicand well-organized.

Solomon records his weekly learning ac-

tivities in the “Learning Diary” section of theDossier. The diary entry reproduced here re-flects the learning targets he set for the monthof January 2002. He indicates that he needs towork more on “vocabulary and writing”.

Hang


Mer

sija

(1)

Mer

sija

(2)


Mer

sija

(3)

Thi

en (1

)


Ole

g (1

)T

hien

(2)


Solo

mon

(1)

Ole

g (2

)


Solo

mon

(2)

Solo

mon

(3)


Solomon (4)

The Russian ELP pilot project

N. Koriakovtseva and T. Yudina

The Linguistic Grammar School 1555 at theMoscow State Linguistic University has beenparticipating in the ELP pilot project since1998. Learners at lower and upper secondarylevel, studying French, English or German astheir first foreign language, participated in thepilot phase. In the autumn of 2000 a new groupof participants joined the project (a class of 13/14 year-olds learning Ukrainian and theirteacher), and as from the autumn of 2001 ninenew groups of pupils in the same age-bracket(80 learners) and their language teachers (11teachers) used the ELP in their learning andteaching. The languages being studied by thesegroups, as a first or second foreign language,are English, German, French, Spanish, Italian,Chinese and Japanese.

The new participants have been informedabout the objectives and functioning of theEuropean project, and the basic documenta-tion, the general ELP concept, the existing na-tional ELP models and past experience of ap-plying the ELP have been presented to them.

The initial results of the Russian pilotproject were presented by Rolf Schärer in thefinal report on the European Language Port-folio project, pilot project phase 1998–2000,and by N. Koriakovtseva and T. Yudina in“Piloting a European Language Portfolio at theLinguistic Lyceum of Moscow State Linguis-tic University”, Babylonia 1 (1999).

The European Language Portfolio for Rus-sia is an integral part of the Council of Europeproject and is based on the Council of Europedocument “Common European Framework ofReference for Languages: Learning, Teaching,Assessment” and on the Swiss ELP model.

The Russian model is aimed at anyonelearning a language which is not their mothertongue:• foreign languages (English, German, French,

etc.)• Russian as an official language but not

mother tongue (in educational establish-ments with ethnic components)

• non-mother-tongue languages other thanRussian such as Tatar in Russian schoolsin the Republic of Tatarstan, part of theRussian Federation, etc.

The ELP comprises three parts: the Lan-guage Passport, the Language Biography andthe Dossier. The Language Passport is a stand-ard document, as agreed during the projectdesign phase, and takes the form of a separatebooklet, part of the overall ELP. It contains theowner’s personal information, the languageslearned and language proficiency at a givenpoint in time, determined by the learnersthemselves. This document is completed at theend of a study stage.

The language biography includes:• the learning objectives which learners set

themselves with their teachers’ help• reporting of progress in learning and in de-

velopment of language proficiency• personal experience of intercultural con-

tacts and appraisal of their quality.The dossier contains samples of work in-

dicative of the learner’s language abilities.The examples used here to illustrate the

project’s implementation are drawn from theportfolio of Olga Derliuk, a 15 year-old whohas been participating in the project for a yearand a half. Her mother tongue is Russian, andthe languages spoken within her family areRussian and, sometimes, Ukrainian, since herfather is Ukrainian and her mother Russian.Olga is learning Ukrainian in school as her firstforeign language, and has German as her sec-ond language, along with some limited expe-rience of learning English. She is thereforemost proficient in Ukrainian, followed by Ger-man, which she has been learning for a yearand a half, and then English, which she gaveup studying and which schools have for sometime not really been pushing.

Participants in the project, whether learn-ers or teachers, were extremely interested inusing the ELP. Olga Derliuk has this to sayabout it:

What I think of the ELP“On first acquaintance with the EuropeanLanguage Portfolio project I felt a little lost, asI had never previously encountered this kindof very “official” document. The unexpectedphrases, complex questions and in some casesnew terminology are a little confusing. In my

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The Russian ELP pilot project 51

opinion, the higher levels (C2 and partly C1)are intended for people who not only master agiven language but are also educated, matureand experienced (for instance when it comes tocompleting questionnaires). It is not very easyto fill out the portfolio for the first time, butwith the teacher’s help it can be done.”

“The Language Portfolio allows me to showmy level of language proficiency, above all inGerman since, in studying that language, I amconstantly obliged to learn many new things.Ukrainian is different. The portfolio helps meto consolidate my knowledge of the finer pointsof the language, to relearn certain things andto hone my skills, but less than in German. Atthe same time, any progress is more perceptible,and realistic self-assessment enables learners

to see for themselves whether they are improv-ing or not. I like being able to assess my knowl-edge and proficiency myself, but I think that itis essential to have an appraisal by the teacheror a native speaker, since a learner can makemistakes.”

“As to whether the portfolio makes for betterunderstanding of language learning objectives,I would say that anyone who seriously studiesa language knows why they are doing it andtheir aim in learning the language. In this area,the portfolio can highlight and clarify objec-tives.”

“I like the portfolio – it’s an interesting project,which makes it possible objectively to assessone’s skills and proficiency, but you have tomake an effort to learn how to use it.”

52 N. Koriakovtseva and T. Yudina

Experimental phase (1999–2000) of use of the ELP in Switzerland

Hans Ulrich Bosshard

Project descriptionFollowing initial trials in 19961, experimenta-tion with the ELP in Switzerland began in mid-1999. The experimental phase ended in July2000. Over this period, the Swiss pilot ELPmodel was used by over 450 classes at all lev-els from lower secondary up. The classes par-ticipating in the pilot project came from nine-teen cantons, with about half originating fromthe Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.

Even during the pilot phase the ELP influ-enced reform of foreign-language teaching inschools, in particular the “General languageteaching concept”2 of the Swiss Conference ofDirectors of State Education (CDIP) but alsothe development of new language syllabusesin central Switzerland and in the canton ofZurich. The ELP was made compulsory insome school sectors in the cantons of Ticinoand the Jura (French-speaking).

Based on the results of the experimentalphase, the pilot ELP model was revised in anumber of respects (graphic design, simplerorganisation, introduction of the standard pan-European language passport, checklists). Thefinal version of the Swiss ELP model3 was vali-dated in November 2000 and made public on1 March 2001.

The pilot ELP model in SwitzerlandFour language versions of the ELP were de-veloped (French, German, Italian, English).The binder (A4 format) was identical for all

four versions; it was printed in black andwhite, with the logos of the Council of Europeand the Swiss CDIP, and in the four languages.The binder contained a number of quadrilin-gual documents and other documents in a sin-gle language according to the language ver-sion. The content mainly comprised:• User information (quadrilingual)• Part 1: the language passport and docu-

ments – a quadrilingual language passport(A6 format) with an illustrated user guide,self-assessment grid on six levels in accord-ance with the Common European Frame-work, a list of diplomas, the global scaleand other documents

• Part 2: the language learning biography –illustrated user guide, checklists for self-assessment at the six levels

• Part 3: the dossier – illustrated user guide,list of personal work

• Part 4: copiable forms (quadrilingual inpart)

Selected examplesAll of the examples below originate from thecanton of Tessino, where Italian is the officiallanguage. The canton has made a considerablecontribution to development and distributionof the ELP through the provision of humanresources4. The canton also brought the ELPinto general use within the teaching profes-sion.a) Examples 1 to 6 are taken from the ELP of

Simona Bordoli, a student at the Scuola didiplomo di Canobbio. This upper second-ary school is attended by students in the15–18 age-bracket. In addition to Italian(first language), French and German arecompulsory. Students may sit for interna-tional certificates in foreign languages(such as the German certificate, level B1).The examples show the three parts of theELP: the language passport and related

1 Günther Schneider (2000) “Die Entwicklungder Schweizer Version des ELP” (“Develop-ment of the Swiss ELP model”), in Babylonia -Revue pour l’enseignement et l’apprentissage deslangues 4/2000, Fondazione Lingue et Culture,Comano TI/CH

2 Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of StateEducation (1998) “What languages should belearned in Switzerland during compulsoryschooling?” Report by a group of experts askedto develop a general language teaching con-cept. Bern.

3 Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of StateEducation (2001), European Language Portfolio.Version for young people and adults. Vali-dated model No. 1.2000. Bern Canton SchoolPublishers. Bern.

4 A special tribute should be paid to Dr ChristophFlügel, Head of Languages at the State EducationDepartment of the canton of Ticino, the Swissnational ELP co-ordinator, who died in earlyDecember 2001.

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Experimental phase (1999–2000) of use of the ELP in Switzerland 59

documents, the language biography andthe dossier.

b) Examples 7 to 11 are taken from the ELPsof three students at the Scuola superiorealberghiera e del turismo di BellinzonaSSAT (a hotel and tourism studies college):Diana Corica (7–8), Ilona Ott (9–10), ElianaBellini (11). At this service-sector studiescollege three foreign languages are compul-sory – French, German and English. Onenrolment, students draw up proficiencyprofiles for their three foreign languages,based on the ELP self-assessment grid. Theexamples show two parts of the ELP: thelanguage passport and related documentsand the language biography.

Learners’ commentsLearners (and teachers) generally had a posi-tive opinion of most of the ELP’s main func-tions and characteristics, in particular:• the central role of self-assessment and the

instruments made available for that pur-pose;

• the documentation and reporting tools,which make it possible to give an overallidea of proficiency in a number of lan-guages and to guarantee international com-parability and recognition of in-school andout-of-school learning.Negative comments mainly concerned the

external form of the pilot version of the ELP(a cumbersome binder, insufficient visualteaching aids) and problems relating to its usein certain circumstances. Some doubts sub-sisted as to the ELP’s usefulness since it wasnot yet well-known in schools and in firms.Harmonisation between the ELP and tradi-tional teaching (syllabuses, teaching aids, ex-aminations, introduction of self-assessment)was not yet adequate. Because the pilot ver-sion was scarcely suitable for under-15s, it wasdecided to develop an ELP model for younglearners.

The following learners’ comments havebeen extracted from the final assessment ques-tionnaires:5

“The ELP is a good means of assessing one’slevel of proficiency and setting oneself objec-tives, but it doesn’t replace your exercise book.”(a lower secondary school pupil)

“With the ELP I can show what I have learnedin all the languages I know.” (a Kosovar pupilat lower secondary level)

“Why not include tests? Learners who madeno - or only one or two - mistakes when doingthe test could conclude that they had reachedthat level of proficiency.” (an upper second-ary school pupil)

“It is in fact useful but after a while you getbored.” (an upper secondary school pupil)

“The ELP should be used right from the startof learning a foreign language. This would givepeople more motivation to work with the ELP.”(a grammar school pupil)

“With maturity the ELP becomes superflu-ous.” (a grammar school pupil)

“The ELP is a private matter. Teachers shouldnot spend too much time on it.” (a grammarschool pupil)

“It’s a good idea, but the ELP should bestandardised and brought into general use.Otherwise, there isn’t much point to it. If theELP is not an official document that must, forexample, be presented to an employer, itundoubtedly loses its importance.” (a studentat the “école universitaire profession-nelle”)

5 Peter Lenz (August 2000), “Piloting the SwissModel of the European Language PortfolioMay 1999-June 2000. Evaluator’s Final Report”,Freiburg, Centre for Language Education andResearch (www.unifr.ch/ids/Portfolio)

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Example 2: Language passport – record of participation inbilingual class

Example 1: Language passport – list of diplomas and certificates

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Example 3.1: Language biography – German (in Italian L1) Example 3.2: Language biography – French (in Italian L1)

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Example 4.2: Language biography – self-assessment checklist(French writing)

Example 4.1: Language biography – self-assessment checklist(French reading)

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Example 6.1: Dossier – group workExample 5: Dossier – list of documents

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Example 6.2: Dossier – discursive text

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Example 7: Language passport – self-evaluation on enrolmentin course

Example 6.3: Dossier – group work: a précis

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Example 8: Language passport – record of a stay in England Example 9: Language biography – German (in German L2)

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Example 11: Learning targets for German, English, French,Spanish, Russian (in Italian L1)

Example 10: Language biography – English (in English L2)

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Documents